---

Date: June 3rd, 2009
Article by: Chris Steele (Hardware Reviewer)
Edited By: Nathan Glentworth (Owner / Head Editor)
Product was submitted by: NZXT
<--CLICK FOR PRICES ON A NZXT CHASSIS IN AMERICA
<--CLICK FOR PRICES ON A NZXT CHASSIS IN CANADA

 

PRODUCT PICTORIAL AND WALKTHROUGH

 
The NZXT includes standard motherboard header pins for HD LED, Power switch, Reset switch and E-SATA which can be easily connected to a motherboard. Additional front extender cables exist for the dual USB and HD/AC97 Audio cables. Consumers should consult their motherboard manual for the proper orientation of these cables prior to use.

 

PRODUCT INSTALLATION AND TESTING

 

 
Installing components into the NZXT ROGUE is a straightforward process but without its share of headaches. To test out this case, I assembled a series of spare components which included the following:

• ASUS M2A-VM Motherboard

• AMD Athlon 64 X2 5000+ CPU w/ Zalman CNPS-8700 LED Heatsink

• 2GB OCZ DDR2 PC2-6400 800MHz Gold XTC

• ATI HD4760 Video Card

• Maxtor Diamond Max10 200GB Hard Drive

• Western Digital WD2000 200GB Hard Drive

• Sound Blaster Audigy Sound Card

• Samsung SH-S203 DVD Burner

• Enermax Liberty ELT500-AWT PSU

When I mentioned headache's here is one of the biggest flaws of the NZXT ROGUE. The removable motherboard tray loses its full functionality when dealing with larger sized peripherals cards. Since this case is marketed towards the gaming community you can expect this problem will rear its ugly head with just about every high-end graphics card on the market. This is also extended to CPU cooling options you are limited to your selection of aftermarket coolers in order to properly slide the motherboard back into the case. The obvious work around is to install the tray in the case first and then attempt to install your card or cooler second. I think more thought should have really been put into this design in order to execute this function much better.

 
Once all my components were installed it was time to perform a final test. Turning on the system, the first thing that you will notice is the red illumination coming from front bezel which is a representation of the Power LED's. I removed all stock fans and replaced them with five Cooler Master TLF-S12-EB LED fans. While running a 12-24 hour burn-in for this test unit, the NZXT ROGUE managed to keep system temperatures at 33C Idle and 39C Load with an ambient room temperature of 28C. I was very pleased with the reported system temperatures as well as the quiet noise levels. This was a dramatic improvement over the SilverStone SG03 case that I looked at a few weeks ago which had the exact same components installed.

 

<--CLICK FOR PRICES ON A NZXT CHASSIS IN AMERICA
<--CLICK FOR PRICES ON A NZXT CHASSIS IN CANADA